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Her entire body felt like it had been submerged in below-freezing water. The shock of his words literally took her breath away. It was like he had seen inside her head and gone right to the fear and worry she had been obsessing over. But he couldn’t have done that. So did that mean there was some truth to her concern about Jackson and Mercer?
Were they really together? No, Jackson wouldn’t.
She wanted to bend over and put her head between her knees, but she couldn’t give Steve the satisfaction. She straightened her back instead and met his gaze with a hard look of her own.
“Oh—you didn’t know about them, huh? I guess that’s because you just got back. You’ve missed a lot of Island gossip. She’s young, but not too young. Half your age plus seven. That’s the general rule.”
Such a pig. How had she never seen this?
“He isn’t with Mercer. She’s his manager for Bohn’s.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “Sure. I bet that’s why they were out looking at a house together yesterday.”
No. But … yesterday Jackson had been busy in the morning. He got to her house in the afternoon, claiming that he had been at work. Had he been acting weird? Could he have been with Mercer? Looking at houses?
“He already has a house.”
“He has a lot of houses. I just assumed he was setting one up for his lover. Look, I need to get upstairs and handle Mom and Dad. Call me when you realize that you’re done with him. I’ll be here.”
Steve gave her a final smile that made her shudder and then walked away. Jenna stood in the middle of the hallway, wearing her shock and guilt and fear like a cloak. Steve had lashed out because he was jealous that she rejected him. That’s all it was. A rumor. One that cut to the very heart of her vulnerabilities.
Jackson wasn’t with Mercer. Not like that. But Steve had been so specific. Too specific for it to have just been a lie.
This moment was too familiar: the pain searing through her chest even as her ribs felt like they were being crushed. Jenna gasped for breath and stumbled toward the dark parking lot. Her stomach rolled and twisted. Whether Steve’s words were true or not, they seeped through her body like a poison, rotting every moment she had shared with Jackson until Jenna was left in nothing but dark and ruined thoughts.